Performance Audio sits at the heart of the QED range, above the entry-level Connect series and below the Reference and Signature tiers. QED describes it as the cable it would recommend to most music lovers building a good system and wanting to get it right first time. It is supplied as a stereo pair of 0.75 m phono-to-phono runs, with channel-identified plugs at each end.
Solid Complementary Conductor Technology
Each run carries two electrically isolated solid-core conductors made from 99.999% oxygen-free copper. The two conductors use different diameters, 1/0.511 mm and 1/0.254 mm, a combination QED specifies to help preserve signal timing and reduce the high-frequency timing errors that can affect conventional analogue cables. The result, in QED's words, is a cleaner, more precise pathway between source and amplifier.
Shielding and Interference Rejection
Modern listening rooms are busy with Wi-Fi routers, televisions, phones and switching power supplies. Performance Audio combines QED Ferrite Insulation Technology with dual electrostatic shielding, built from a ferrite jacket, an aluminium Mylar wrap and a 100% shield braid, to help prevent digital and RF interference entering the signal path.
Cable and Termination
A low-loss foamed polyethylene dielectric separates the conductors, and the 6 mm jacket is finished in stone grey TPE; a softer, more flexible material that reduces handling noise and makes routing behind an equipment rack easier. Both runs are fitted with gold-plated QED phono connectors in the range's new silver-grey styling, with black and red marker rings identifying the left and right channels.
System Matching
QED intends Performance Audio for any source component with analogue RCA outputs: streamers, CD players, DACs, turntable phono stages, network audio players and music servers. It is designed to partner QED Performance Speaker Cable, the two having been developed together so that every link in the audio chain performs in harmony.
